Call your own business line tonight after seven. Listen to what a new customer hears. If it is voicemail, you already know what most people do next, because you do it too: hang up and try the next name on the list.
I run a small business myself. For a long time my phone was answered by whoever was closest to it, which after 5 pm was nobody. I did not lose work because my work was bad. I lost it because I was on a ladder, in a crawlspace, or at dinner with my family, and the call went to a box nobody checks until morning.
What an AI receptionist actually does
It picks up on the second ring, in your business name. It knows your hours, your service area and the work you do, because I typed those in with you. It asks the caller what is going on, where they are, and when they would like someone out. Then it does one of three things:
- books the job into your Google Calendar, if you want it to;
- takes the details and texts them to you, so you call back when you are off the roof;
- or, if the caller says the words you told it to listen for, like “water everywhere” or “no heat and it’s 20 degrees”, it rings your cell straight away.
After every call you get a short text and an email: who called, their number, what they need, and what the receptionist told them. You can listen to the recording. Nothing is hidden from you.
What it does not do
It does not quote a price you have not given it. It does not promise an arrival time you have not approved. It does not pretend to be a person; the first thing it says is that it is an AI assistant for your company. In my experience most callers do not care who takes the message, as long as somebody does and the plumber shows up.
Why I set it up by hand
You can buy a phone robot online in ten minutes. What you get is a template that says “um” in the wrong places and books a furnace tune-up for a plumber. I set each one up with the owner, test it on real calls for two weeks, and change the script the same day something sounds wrong. The software is the easy part. Knowing what a Gresham homeowner means by “the thing in the garage is making a noise” is the part that takes a person who has answered those calls.
What it costs and how to try it
$400 a month, about $13 a day, with 400 minutes of calls included. The first 14 days are free and there is no card to enter. I set it up on a new number; you forward your calls to it whenever you want, after hours first if you like; and at day 14 you decide. If you keep it, billing starts then. If not, I switch it off and you owe nothing. You can cancel any month after that.
Start the free 14-day trial here, or call the demo line at 541-612-5262 to hear it first.